


Fake it till you make it

by haveyouseenmymind



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Academy Era, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 11:55:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16832137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haveyouseenmymind/pseuds/haveyouseenmymind
Summary: Jim interrupts a vidcall Leonard has with his ex, which leads to her thinking that the men are dating.





	Fake it till you make it

There was a headache blooming in Leonard’s head, right behind his eyes, the throbbing pain making it hard for him to concentrate on anything. He was sure that he had to blame Jocelyn for it, who had been nagging at him for at least fifteen minutes now. If he didn’t end the vidcall soon, he wouldn’t be able to guarantee for anything. 

“Jocelyn, why did you call me anyway? Surely not to gripe at me for how hard it is to reach me.”

This made his ex stop in her tirade, looking at him with irritation, and Leonard was glad about the sudden silence. His head definitely appreciated it, even though it wouldn’t last long, as Jocelyn was taking one sharp breath before she started talking again.

“Of course not, Leo. But still, it’s not as if I have nothing better to do than trying to finally get a call through to you. Do you have any ideas how often I have called in the last few days?”

“So what do you want?”

Jocelyn glared at him in annoyance, but he didn’t give much of a damn. The woman had already gotten the planet in the divorce, there wasn’t much more harm she could do, and no need for him to let himself being pushed down anymore.

”Actually I wanted to tell you some news. Clay has to go to San Francisco for work in a few weeks.”

“And what’s that got to do with me?”

“If you would stop interrupting me I could have already told you!”

Leonard watched her raise her arm and pinch her nose, as she apparently was trying to hold back her anger. A little spark of glee flared up in him, amusing him to no ends that he still could rise her hackles that easily.

“Anyway, I wanted to tell you that I’m going to accompany him on this trip, and I’m going to bring Joanna along. She’s been excited for this vacation and the chance to see her daddy. So please tell me that you won’t disappoint her and will be able to make time for your daughter.”

Leonard became immediately serious, the aspect of finally getting to see his daughter again blocking out everything, his headache and anger forgotten for the moment.

“Of course I’ll have time for her! When are you coming?”

The next few minutes were filled with talking about the details, which grew into another heated discussion. Leonard’s headache became stronger with every passing minute, and he was glad when they were finally done. But just when he thought that he’d be able to get rid of his ex for now, Jocelyn had to get at him with one last side remark.

“By the way, you’re not going to bring a girlfriend along, aren’t you?”

She then scrutinized him carefully, and suddenly glee was written all over her face.

“Oh of course you won’t. I bet you’re still single. I can’t imagine that you’ve changed that much, so there’s probably still no place for anything but work in your life. Such a shame Leo, do you really wanna die alone and miserable some day?”

That damn bitch. Seems like she had, just as him, not forgotten how she could get at him and easily make him furious. But just when he wanted to start the next round of yelling, he heard someone shuffle around right behind him.

He turned around, and saw that it was Jim, who must have gotten into his apartment without him realizing. Not too much of a surprise, the kid could be damn sneaky if he wanted, and Leonard had been too busy dealing with his ex.

He wanted to apologize to Jim, but wasn’t able to say anything when he saw the determined expression on his friend’s face. Leonard panicked, this never meant anything good for him, and he just couldn’t deal with Jim and Jocelyn at the same time.

Though it turned out he didn’t have to, as Jim seemed to have found his own way how to handle Jocelyn and the situation they were caught in, as the blond stepped right next to Leonard’s site, and plopped himself without any word of explanation down into his lap.

Leonard was too shocked to stop him, and so he let Jim put his arms around his neck, and kiss him gently on his cheek.

“Hey honey, I’m back. I haven’t seen you in a few hours, so I just had to come over. I missed you too much to spend another minute without you.”

He finally turned towards the screen, where Jocelyn had watched them, her face turning more sour with every passing second. In mock surprise Jim then decided to finally acknowledge her.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were busy, Bones. Who’s your friend?”

Whatever Jim was doing, it definitely got on Jocelyn’s nerves. Glaring daggers at the blond who was getting comfortable in Leonard’s lap, she gritted her teeth, her anger being more than obvious.

“I’m Jocelyn.”

“Hmm, Jocelyn… Jocelyn… Nope, that doesn’t ring a bell.”

Jim looked questioningly at Leonard, confusion written all over his face. He didn’t know what to do, overwhelmed by the situation, not sure what was happening and how he had gotten himself into it. Maybe he had somehow been transported into another reality? How big were the chances for that to happen?

Well, Jim would surely be able to calculate the odds and happily elaborate it to him. At least if he would stop making mooneyes at Leonard. Which brought his thoughts back to the present.

“Uhm… She’s the ex.”

Leonard could see how well acted understandinding ran over Jim’s face, who, with another kiss on his cheek, lifted himself out of his lap.

“Ok Bonesey, you two have fun. But not too much of course. And don’t forget that we’re meeting Gaila for dinner later.”

With a wink he turned around and headed towards the kitchen. Leonard, still too stunned to really process what just had happened, watched him leave the room before he turned around back to Jocelyn.

The woman was still glaring at him angrily, and suddenly he was too exhausted to deal any longer with her. There were other matters demanding for his attention, one of them waiting in his kitchen and probably helping himself with a glass of his good bourbon.

“I think we’ve discussed everything. If there’s something else you need, just call me.”

And before she was able to respond, Leonard hung up on her.

He let out a relieved sight, glad that this was over for now and that he could give his poor head a rest.

However, he still had to deal with his best friend and whatever kind of madness had fallen on him, when he tried to pass himself off as Leonard’s boyfriend. And so he tried to collect himself, not quite sure if he was able to handle Jim and one of his crazy plots right now.

Still, he got up from his desk, and headed towards his kitchen, hoping that this wouldn’t turn out too bad.

When he entered the room, Jim was leaning against the counter, and held indeed a glass with amber liquid in his hand, but to Leonard’s surprise there was another one waiting for him right on the table

He shot Jim, who just shrugged, a grateful glance, before he sat down and reached out for the glass.

“Thought you could need it Bones.”

“Thank you, Jim.”

He carefully took a small sip, caught in his own thoughts as he tried to think about what he should do with everything that just had happened. What had Jim been thinking? Now his ex would assume that they were together, which by itself was a pretty hilarious idea. As if Jim, number one guy with commitment issues, would settle himself down for someone like him.

Leonard suddenly realized that Jim was watching him, and so he looked up at his friend. To his own surprise, Jim seemed to be tense, his mouth a thin line and was now, having finished his own drink, playing with his fingers.

“What’s wrong Jim?”

The blond startled, stopped fumbling with his hands, and stared at him like a deer caught in headlights.

“Nothing. Just waiting for the shouting and for getting scolded for what I just did.”

“I’m not going to yell at you, idiot. Though I’d still like to know what you were thinking? I’m trying to wrap my head around it, but somehow I can’t figure out what just happened.”

In the next few seconds Leonard could watch as different emotions were running over his friend’s face - confusion, relief and finally anger.

“I’m sorry Bones, but what was I supposed to do? That woman was just disrespectful and unnecessarily cruel. I couldn’t let her talk to you like that, you don’t deserve being treated like shit.”

Leonard was astonished, though he really shouldn’t be. Of course Jim would become angry at Jocelyn on his behalf. But still, Leonard was touched and more than grateful for his loyal friend. Nevertheless, there was still a problem to be solved.

“Jim? How much of our conversation did you hear?”

“Only the last bit. I swear, I didn’t want to eavesdrop. I just came in and heard her talking shit, and well, then I kinda got carried away by my anger.”

“So you didn’t hear that she’ll come to San Francisco and that she’ll bring Joanna? That I’ll finally be able to spend some time with my daughter?”

As soon as Jim heard Joanna’s name, a brilliant smile was blooming on his face. He seemed to be genuinely happy for Leonard, who couldn’t help himself but feel his heart warm at that sight.

“Joanna is coming for a visit? Bones, that’s great! Ooooh, think of all the things we could show her!”

The kid’s enthusiasm was really contagious, but still Leonard was waiting for the other shoe to drop. After a while of rambling, Jim finally caught on, realization dawning on his face as he looked at Len in horror.

“Wait, you said her mother is coming, too? Oh, and I just told her in a roundabout way that we’re dating, which actually is a lie. Bones, I’m sorry! Do you want me to tell her the truth?”

Leonardcontemplated Jim’s offer, but he knew how Jocelyn would react. Gloating, sure of herself and absolutely unbearable. No, he definitely would not be able to endure that for a whole week.

The only other option would be to keep the charade going, and act like a couple for the time Jocelyn would stay in San Francisco. But would they be able to pull that lie off? And what about Joanna? He hated lying to her, but he also didn’t want her to be influenced by her mother, who would think of him to be a complete loser.

In the end, he had no other choice.

“No, we just leave it as it is. I don’t want to give that woman more ammunition than she already has. So you’re up for it? Pretending a whole week to be my boyfriend?”

Jim grinned at him with mirth, and Leonard could have sworn to feel excitement radiate of him in happy little waves.

“Of course Bones! Since I’m the one who got you in this mess, it’s only the polite thing to help you through it. I promise I’ll be the best boyfriend you could ever wish for!”

To be honest, Leonard wasn’t sure if these words were meant to reassure him or scare him to death. But it seemed like he would have to trust his friend with this.

“Jim, I beg you, please don’t overdo it. We have to be authentic, so please, nothing overdramatic. And please tune it down in front of Joanna, it’s her mother that we want to convince, so leave her out of it.”

“Spoilsport. But ok, you’re the boss.”

Leonard sighed in relief, he would have to be satisfied with that. Though there was one more thing left to deal with.

“Oh, and Jim?”

“Yeah, Bones?”

“Call me Bonesey one more time and I’ll jab you with every possible hypo I can find. I’ll even create new vaccines, if I have to.”

+++

Somehow the week with his little girl had come and gone by faster than he had anticipated, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about her having left again already.

Joanna had grown so much since he had last been able to see her, and with a heavy heart he had realized that there would be even less time to spend with her once he had graduated and would leave for the stars.

And so he had cherished the time they had together, even more with Jim by their side, who, to Leonard’s surprise, had been a perfect boyfriend, even though the act itself was faked.

In the end though, the occasions where Jocelyn was around them and they had to keep up the deception, were thankfully limited. She was reasonable enough and let them have their own time with Joanna, in front of whom they held themselves back.

But that was no problem, since Jim was spending more effort on having fun with Joanna, than anything else, and sometimes Leonard had the feeling that the blond had forgotten that he was there with them at all, which was kind of endearing.

Jim and his daughter had gotten along with each other like a house on fire immediately, adopting each other in their life without any questions asked, just as if they had known each other for much longer than only a few hours.

Leonard was glad that the two most important people in his life had formed this kind of rare bond, and somehow he couldn’t shake the feeling that the three of them worked together like a little family.

But unfortunately they couldn’t avoid Jocelyn completely, since she wanted to get to know the new man in Leonard’s life. And so the four of them found themselves spending one afternoon in the city, showing the girls around and giving them a tour of the best spots to chase some time away.

And it was that afternoon, where Jim tried to live up to his own statement of being the perfect boyfriend. He had been sweet, attentive and not at all overbearing. To be honest, he mainly had been himself, hadn’t treated Leonard that much differently than he normally would. He had joked, teased and sometimes he’d been a little shit.

The only addition which had been new, where little touches here and there, holding hands, or Jim’s arm around his waist or shoulder.

A kiss on the cheek. Or on the forehead. After a while it had felt all so natural to Leonard, and so he had become more comfortable around those little displays of affection than he actually had wanted, even up to a degree where it was hard to remember that this all was just an act, and not reality at all.

However, they definitely had convinced Jocelyn, with whom Leonard hard formed some kind of truce that day. They were walking along the beach, when Jim somehow sensed their need to talk that was lying thick in the air, and so he had taken it upon himself to entertain Joanna for a while, to let Leonard and Jocelyn have that clarifying conversation.

Unfortunately, they weren’t able to dissolve all their hate and arguments, though at least they both agreed to act civil around each other for Joanna’s sake, and that was more than he originally had hoped for.

But still, a lot of Jocelyn’s anger seemed to have vanished, she even smiled when she watched Jim and Joanna chase each other along the sandy shore, giggling like mad and splashing each other with the cold water.

She then had looked at him, the smile still on her lips, and told him how glad she was that Leonard had found Jim. How good they were together, even more so than he and Jocelyn would have ever been. 

Finally, at the end of the week, they said their goodbyes and even hugged each other, and she had whispered in his ear to be careful not to lose that brilliant man by his side.

And so everything was over and back to normal, with the charade coming to an end. But somehow this easiness of their faked relationship wouldn’t let go of Leonard, as it followed him into the next week, winding itself through nearly all of his conscious thoughts. It had just felt so right, with no awkwardness standing between them to make spending time with each other unbearable. As if dating was just the next logical step in their relationship. As if their way had been leading them up to this point anyway.

To his own surprise, the thought of going back to where things had been before, saddened him, felt to him like he would lose a part of himself. But Joanna and Jocelyn were gone, back to Georgia, and so there was no need for them to keep going on with their fake relationship any longer.

He needed to make up his mind, as he couldn’t be the only one who had realized that there might be more between them than simple friendship. The only way to gain assurance about this, was to talk to the blond, but he hadn’t seen him in nearly a week.

Of course this had been partly his and his bad luck’s fault, as first he had been caught up at the hospital for two days, leaving him without any energy for anything but a solid good twelve hours of sleep afterwards.

The following days weren’t any better, either his own courses and assignments or Jim’s getting in the way. In the end he hadn’t seen the other man for nearly a week now, and it was starting to grate on his nerves.

He missed Jim and his stupid carefree smile, missed his wit and his absurd ideas, even missed him stealing his food and alcohol. God, he hadn’t known how much of his life and time had been consumed by the other man. **  
**

It was time to look for him, but somehow he had the feeling that Jim was avoiding him, though he had no idea why. He hadn’t shown any signs of feeling uncomfortable around Leonard while they were acting to be a couple, so what was the reason for him to stay away? Well, no matter what, he had to find the blond, and he wouldn’t give up until he did so.

To both their surprises, more to Jim’s than his own, he found him by chance, as he ran into Jim, who was talking to Gaila, on campus. Without saying anything else, he grabbed Jim, and started tugging him away, while Gaila just watched them, giggling and saying goodbye to Jim.

Thankfully, his apartment wasn’t too far away, and so he hauled Jim there, never loosening his grip, so that his friend had no chance of escaping. When they finally entered his apartment, he let go of Jim, and the blong glared back at him angrily, not amused that he had been dragged around without even a word. Leonard felt a bit bad about it, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

He just sighed and headed for the kitchen, in the need for a drink, cause he didn’t know if he’d be able to start this conversation without the help of some liquid courage. And since he knew Jim better than himself, he had a hunch that Jim would probably be more forgiving if Leonard shared his best booze with him. Thankfully, he was following Leonard on his own will now, but that didn’t mean that he’d have to keep the silence up any longer.

“You know, that was not the nicest way to interrupt a conversation, just dragging me away and not even apologizing to Gaila.”

“The way she said goodbye I don’t think she minds it that much.”

Leonard regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth, this was not how he had wanted to start this. Jim looked more than annoyed, but didn’t answer him directly, instead he just sat down at the table, glaring at Leonard and crossed his arms in front of his chest. 

“What do you want, Bones?”

Leonard sighed again, and having found the bourbon in the meantime, he filled two glasses, setting on of them down in front of Jim, who simply nodded at the gesture. He sat down right across him, and scrutinized his friend for the first time in nearly a week, and didn’t quite like what he saw.

Jim was obviously stressed, dark circles under his eyes, and exhaustion and tension clearly visible in every small movement he made.

Leonard started worrying immediately, and of course he felt guilty. He should have looked after him sooner, knowing that it wasn’t a good sign when he hadn’t seen his friend in more than a day. 

“I wanted to talk to you about last week.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. I got you in trouble, and then helped you through it. We can go back to normality now, everything is as it was before, so no need to be angry at me.”

“Angry? Why should I be angry at you? Is that why you were avoiding me the last days?” **  
**

Leonard was surprised, cause he had no reason to be angry at the blond. Sure, he didn’t like that Jim had been avoiding him, but more than anything else he was worried.

“You were avoiding me first. I was just doing what you wanted, giving you some space since you’re hating me that much.”

Now he really didn’t know what to say. Jim looked at him in defeat, then averted his eyes to stare down into his glass, still untouched right in front of him.

“What the hell? What is even going on here? Who ever said that I hate you? I’ve taken a lot of shit from you, and never hated you for it, so why should I start now?”

Jim looked up at him in shock, and Leonard could see a flush spread over his face.

“Oh… Well, uhm I… It was just, after what the others said…”

“What others?”

Jim started squirming in his seat, reached out for his glass and started to fiddle around with it. Leonard could practically feel it radiating from the blond how uncomfortable he was. Whatever had happened, it must have been really bad.

“I heard some of your colleagues talk the other day, when I was sitting at the cafeteria, waiting for you to finish your shift. They hadn’t seen me, otherwise they wouldn’t have had that conversation…”

Leonard’s impatience grew with every second. He had an idea what would come next, but he needed to hear it from Jim, who just took a long breath, grounding himself and getting ready for the rest of the conversation. **  
**

“One of them saw us last week, and it seems like we fooled him, too. Was telling the others about how you could do better. And then another one chimed in, saying that you were in an exceptional bad mood, even for your standards, and that maybe I had done something stupid, so you found out that you were just my flavor of the week and finally got rid of my cheating ass.”

Leonard pinched the bridge of his nose, livid that those gossiping idiots had upset Jim this much. It seemed like he had to have a talk with a few of his colleagues about how his personal life was none of their business. Nevertheless, he still didn’t understand how everything had led to this mess.

“I still don’t see why this should make me hate you? I’m angry at them, but that’s got nothing to do with you.”

“Well, you were in a bad mood when Joanna was gone, and they said you still were angry two days later, and I thought maybe me causing all this trouble and you having to deal with me acting to be your boyfriend was the last straw…” **  
**

“And so you just put two and two together and assumed that I would hate you for it? That this was the reason for me avoiding you?”

Leonard groaned, and finally took a sip from his drink. God, somehow this had completely gotten out of hand and turned into disaster.

“Ok, now one last time: I’m not angry at you. My bad mood had absolutely nothing to do with you, but more with my daughter being gone again and the idiots I have to deal with at the hospital. And I didn’t avoid you. I just had two excruciating days at the hospital, and was too exhausted to do anything but sleep the day after.”

Jim seemed to contemplate what Leonard said, and after a while the tension left his body and he smiled softly at Leonard. **  
**

“So you’re not angry at me for last week.”

“No, but I still wanted to talk to you about it.”

Worry was creeping back upon the blonds face, still playing with the glass in his hand nervously.

“Ok, what do you want to talk about?”

Leonard hesitated for a moment, fear making him want to stop before it would be too late. But he had no other choice if he wanted to have a chance with Jim. He just hoped that he wouldn’t ruin everything.

“Actually… I really liked that week.” **  
**

“You did?”

“Yeah. I don’t know how you think about this, but this whole relationship thing felt normal. Like this was just us and how it’s supposed to be. God dammit, I’m not making any sense.”

He was mortified, but mostly annoyed with himself, that he just wasn’t able to find the right words. He had never been good at talking about his feelings. And he was worried. Worried that Jim would laugh at him, or even worse, leave in disgust and declare the end of their friendship. 

But Jim didn’t do either. Instead he just smiled at him and grabbed his hand to intertwine their fingers.

“Oh no Bones, you’re making a lot of sense to me. I get you, cause I feel the same. I’ve never felt so comfortable around another person. Somehow we just click, and I feel like there’s a lot more behind it. And to be honest, I really would like to find out what that is.”

Leonard could feel relieve flood through him, his heart beating faster with excitement. He hadn’t expected for Jim to feel the same, even though he had hoped for it. **  
**

“I’d like that, too.”

“So, we’ll stop pretending and make a real thing out of it?”

“That sounds like a plan. What do you say, dinner, tonight?”

Jim nodded at him with a smile, and Leonard had the feeling that everything would turn out to be alright.


End file.
